UN General Assembly President on Global Issues | United Nations

General Assembly President Dennis Francis discusses the mission of the United Nations, the need to fund UNRWA, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the climate challenge and the upcoming Summit of the Future.

Thumbnail: UN Photo/Elma Okic

General Assembly President Dennis Francis today (26 Feb) said the United Nations “is not the problem” adding that “some member states of the United Nations feel that they can freely and wantonly violate the charter and violate international law, and then they can walk away from it.”

Speaking to UNTV CH in Geneva where he participated in the opening of the 55th session of the Human Rights Council, Francis said, “thus far, World War Three has not taken place. And no doubt that is in large measure due to the fact that the UN provides a platform for all countries to come and ventilate their issues, to provide a space for dialogue and negotiation that could save us from the scourge of war.”

He said, “sovereign states must recognise the territorial integrity of their neighbours and of all member states, as a means of building strong, positive, friendly relations,” and stressed that this principle “has been intercepted in the context of what Russia has done in the Ukraine. And until that situation is corrected by the Russian Federation, it is going to remain on the agenda of the United Nations.”

Francis expressed hope that donor countries “would maintain their assistance and support to UNRWA.”

He pointed out that investigations are currently taking place on the alleged participation of UNRWA staff in the 7 October attacks and said, “the Organisation has a mandate given to it by the General Assembly and must be positioned, must be empowered, to deliver its mandate. Not because UNRWA is privileged, but because the people who depend on it, their interests must be preserved.”

On Friday Francis sent a letter to UNRWA Chief Philippe Lazzarini expressing dismay on the continued dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and the severe challenges besieging UNRWA.

Turning to the Summit of the Future, to take place this September in New York, the PGA said it was “intended to facilitate, a strong understanding, a strong understanding among heads of state and government, to reinvigorate multilateralism, to hold countries to account for their commitments in order to ensure that we have the best chance of taking the decisions, complex as they might be, to stabilise the system.”

On the issue of sea level rise, Francis said, “as someone from a small island developing states, this is crucial for us. And you would you noted that, recently there was a report that last year was the hottest year on record. So, we are clearly not going in the direction we need to be going, which makes the issue of sea level rise as a consequence of climate change all the more pressing to be addressed systematically by the United Nations.”

On 3 November 2023, the PGA convened, for the first time, an informal plenary meeting on the existential threats of sea-level rise amid the climate crisis, at which two Co-Chairs of the ILC Study Group provided input as experts.

The General Assembly decided to hold a high-level plenary meeting on 25 September 2024 to address the existential threats posed by sea-level rise.